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We have the same issue, here in rural Maine, no NG. We put in two 200 gallon LP tanks (also use the LP for the gas fireplace), it was installed last March and the gauges on the tanks haven't moved off full. It gets run for about 10 minutes every week, to test the system and charge the start up battery.

As far as running time a single 100 gallon tank will give you about 43 hours of run time at 100% usage and two 200 gallon tanks will give you about 86 hours, but will last a lot longer as the demand drops.

Hmm, that's good to know. My house is not very large (3 bedroom garden home, less than 2k sq ft). My fireplace is a false electric one, so no gas logs, the generator and maybe my grill would be the only thing on it. Being in Alabama my main problem is outages due to tornadoes/hurricanes, but we are due for a 20 year snowstorm and the last one knocked out power for a week.

Seeing this thread has been revived, here's my update: as planned, I went ahead and got a portable generator and an interlock kit. I bought a Smarter Tools GP9500EB from Costco.com last December for $800, no longer available there but this is the one > http://www.homedepot...07#.Uma8CXvD-70

My hope is that my monthly test runs I've been doing since purchasing it will be the only 'action' it ever sees.

I'm curious as to what others did since our discussion last fall. Rich? Diana? Anyone else?

Seeing this thread has been revived, here's my update: as planned, I went ahead and got a portable generator and an interlock kit. I bought a Smarter Tools GP9500EB from Costco.com last December for $800, no longer available there but this is the one > http://www.homedepot...07#.Uma8CXvD-70

My hope is that my monthly test runs I've been doing since purchasing it will be the only 'action' it ever sees.

I'm curious as to what others did since our discussion last fall. Rich? Diana? Anyone else?

Still haven't pulled the trigger on one. My Costco generator is completely shot and I have to, at least, get a new one from a more reliable store or site. I've received a couple estimates on whole house gennies and the installation costs are sky high around here. Seems as if all the A/C companies have found a new, very profitable money stream. One company, Gold Medal, quoted me a price of $1,000 per KW. So for that 14KW gennie that I'd want they'd charge at least $14,000. My wife keeps asking about one, so I've really got no choice, I have to do something.

Still haven't pulled the trigger on one. My Costco generator is completely shot and I have to, at least, get a new one from a more reliable store or site. I've received a couple estimates on whole house gennies and the installation costs are sky high around here. Seems as if all the A/C companies have found a new, very profitable money stream. One company, Gold Medal, quoted me a price of $1,000 per KW. So for that 14KW gennie that I'd want they'd charge at least $14,000. My wife keeps asking about one, so I've really got no choice, I have to do something.

Rich

What??!! Living in Montclair, I'm familiar with the NJ markup, but if that price is for the generator alone, that is beyond ridiculous. I'm not saying the job was cheap, but we paid less than that for the 20kw Generac, installed, with the Nexus transfer switch, by a certified Generac contractor. (In fact, the install was more costly than the generator itself.)

What??!! Living in Montclair, I'm familiar with the NJ markup, but if that price is for the generator alone, that is beyond ridiculous. I'm not saying the job was cheap, but we paid less than that for the 20kw Generac, installed, with the Nexus transfer switch, by a certified Generac contractor. (In fact, the install was more costly than the generator itself.)

Also The Energy Detective (TED) to track utilization with and without the generator. At this moment in time, pulling 1434 watts, usually fluctuates between 850-1500 watts without A/C, toaster, hairdryer, and microwave.

Seeing this thread has been revived, here's my update: as planned, I went ahead and got a portable generator and an interlock kit. I bought a Smarter Tools GP9500EB from Costco.com last December for $800, no longer available there but this is the one > http://www.homedepot...07#.Uma8CXvD-70

My hope is that my monthly test runs I've been doing since purchasing it will be the only 'action' it ever sees.

I'm curious as to what others did since our discussion last fall. Rich? Diana? Anyone else?

We did a 17kW Generac back in the spring. $8400 all in (and they did a great job). I've recommended them to several neighbors. Haven't needed it yet, and I just signed up for an annual maintenance contract, so we'll do our first oil change soon.

As an interesting aside, PSE&G replaced our gas meter (the old one was rated at 250 cubic feet/hr, which is the consumption rate of the generator at full load) and we ended up with a $800 credit on our account. PSE&G never gave us a good explanation of why, just saying that it was due to "metering errors" with the old meter.

We did a 17kW Generac back in the spring. $8400 all in (and they did a great job). I've recommended them to several neighbors. Haven't needed it yet, and I just signed up for an annual maintenance contract, so we'll do our first oil change soon.

As an interesting aside, PSE&G replaced our gas meter (the old one was rated at 250 cubic feet/hr, which is the consumption rate of the generator at full load) and we ended up with a $800 credit on our account. PSE&G never gave us a good explanation of why, just saying that it was due to "metering errors" with the old meter.

That price is about "right". The 17kW will sell for about $3800 at HD, so you are about double for it plus installation.

Whenever a gas meter is pulled, it must be tested. Not sure of NJ law, but here if it is more than 2% fast, then a refund must be given back all the way to when it was installed.

If you need a meter capable of delivering more flow than the standard size, why would you be surprised that a utility would charge more for it? It probably costs them a lot more since it is a lower volume product, and they're using a commercial meter on a residence. One should just be happy they didn't have to replace the pipe from the street to your house, I'm sure that wouldn't be pretty, or cheap.

How on earth could the gas company ever charge anyone for a re has meter unless you physically damage it yourself? I've never heard if such a thing.

As Slice1900 mentioned, the meter upgrade is to support the higher consumption rate, so it is considered a service upgrade (like adding DVR service to your DirecTV account requires you to actually have a DVR, usually at a cost).

Fortunately, I live in an area where we have high gas pressure. I don't know what they would do if your gas service couldn't deliver the specified minimum pressure.

As Slice1900 mentioned, the meter upgrade is to support the higher consumption rate, so it is considered a service upgrade (like adding DVR service to your DirecTV account requires you to actually have a DVR, usually at a cost).

Fortunately, I live in an area where we have high gas pressure. I don't know what they would do if your gas service couldn't deliver the specified minimum pressure.

One should just be happy they didn't have to replace the pipe from the street to your house, I'm sure that wouldn't be pretty, or cheap.

PSE&G tried to pull that with us - and was going to charge $7,000 to do so! However, they suggested that had we chosen to purchase and have our generator installed by them, that price wouldn't have been as steep. Needless to say, we found away around that exorbitant nonsense and it turns out we didn't even need it to be done for the generator to work as it's supposed to work. As Rich said, just the usual NJ looniness.

PSE&G tried to pull that with us - and was going to charge $7,000 to do so! However, they suggested that had we chosen to purchase and have our generator installed by them, that price wouldn't have been as steep. Needless to say, we found away around that exorbitant nonsense and it turns out we didn't even need it to be done for the generator to work as it's supposed to work. As Rich said, just the usual NJ looniness.

Amazes me at times what goes on here. The latest one that really got to me was installing electrical lines under the boardwalk at Seaside Heights (I think that's correct, not sure). Who the hell allowed that? Were they surprised when the whole thing burned up? Water is bad enough, salt water is corrosive and really conductive. How did that happen...just Jersey being Jersey, I guess.

Actually, we needed the 200amp Nexus switch (the house has 200 amp service) and the 17kW unit with the Nexus switch is over $4200 at Home Depot, so it is exactly double.

Yeah, I just used the EZ-Switch that came with the 17kW. Much more of a DIY product than the Nexus, plus I have a 2x200 Amp and it would have been hard to pick which one we wanted to use. Would have had to move some things from one to the other and that would have been a PITA.

After I got it set up and an amp meter on it, other than when the A/C was starting we weren't pulling anywhere near the 66 amp capacity. So I did some reconfiguring and now the 17kW will run everything in the house except the main floor A/C (5-ton) and the oven (water heaters and dryer are gas).

Here if you can show you have a new for more pressure they have to upgrade the meter. No change. I don't even think thus upgrade you if you wanted more without any need for it. And I thought Cali had all the craziness to itself.

Here if you can show you have a new for more pressure they have to upgrade the meter. No change. I don't even think thus upgrade you if you wanted more without any need for it. And I thought Cali had all the craziness to itself.

NJ has always been a strange place. Billy the Kid came from Jersey, I think...huh, just Googled it and he was born, perhaps, in NYC. Could have sworn it was Jersey. Apparently, his birthplace is really unknown.

Just upgraded my meter recently to accommodate the generator. I only had a 200CFH meter, now 450. The meter was free but it was a few hundred dollars for my plumbing guy to change the piping for the new meter, and another thousand to run a pipe for the outside quick disconnect.

NJ has always been a strange place. Billy the Kid came from Jersey, I think...huh, just Googled it and he was born, perhaps, in NYC. Could have sworn it was Jersey. Apparently, his birthplace is really unknown.

Rich

Between taxes, fees, tolls, tips and other assorted "Jersey Markups" as we call them, I'd venture to guess we're the most nickel-and-dimed state in the union. (NYC could argue that it is, but despite what they think over there, they're not a state. Or a nation, for that matter. )